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In education, I have
always loved BIG. I have embraced
big ideas, big resources, big tech, big budgets, big plans, big dreams or big
projects. But as much as I love BIG,
I now need to formally advocate for small.

Size Matters.And
although big has its rewards, much of what we want to accomplish in education
will only be possible if we think small. That’s right. Small works and it works
well. The research for small
has been evident for some time. Core benefits from small schools include
increased student achievement, increased attendance, higher teacher
satisfaction and improved school climate (Supovitz & Christman, 2005:
Howley, et al., 2000). Indeed, the case for smaller learning communities and environments can be made from all learning perspectives and applications (see latest Hechinger Report article What Big High Schools Get Wrong to find out more). Let’s extend from
schools to classrooms. Ask any teacher about their effectiveness, as well as
student success…